Why is the President talking about Russian hacking now and not 45 days ago?

by Kristine Frazao, Sinclair Broadcast Group

President Obama addresses Russian hacking during his last press conference of 2016. (Sinclair Broadcast Group)

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) —

In his final news conference of the year, President Obama laid it out straight.

“Based on uniform intelligence assessments the Russians were responsible for hacking the DNC,” Obama said.

Over the last few weeks, Capitol Hill weighed in as well.

“We do not let foreign powers trample on our basic institutions – like the election system – and let that go unchecked,” said Sen. Ron Wyden/D-Oregon

But some Republicans say it’s an over-reaction.

“The American voters are smart enough to make their decisions. You may dislike what they did depending on your political views. They called the shot they made the decision and the outcome is something we should embrace,” said Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon)

In a tweet Thursday, Donald Trump accused the white house of only complaining about the hacking after Hillary Clinton lost.

But in fact in early October the intelligence community and the president did bring this up to congress asserting they were quote confident Russia was behind the DNC hacks.

Some political analysts say the president wasn’t more outspoken about Russian hacking because he was confident Hillary Clinton would win. Others say he didn’t want to appear too involved in the process.

“President’s should be above elections and this would have been a very electrifying charge Had Obama made it two weeks before the election,” Jeremy Mayer, as Associate Professor with The George Mason School of Law.

One months after the election, it’s dominating headlines and will loom over Monday’s vote by the electoral college.

“At a time when anything I or anyone in the white house said I wanted everybody to know we were playing this this thing straight,” Obama said.